One of the major goals in modern telecommunication is to achieve ever increasing transmission rates as well as data broadcast speeds, which is intimately coupled with the need of new and advanced technologies providing the necessary tools for accomplishing this quest. The demand for high precision in manufacturing semiconductor devices calls for the development of new manufacture tools and technologies, which is accompanied with a considerable amount of financial efforts. Thus, it would be advantageous to have at hand simple concepts which allow for the production of semiconductor devices with a characteristic length well below the μm region, but which do not require additional operating expenses.
Semiconductor devices and the systems that contain these devices therein are designed to provide a very particular performance and meet a particular design specification. The ability of the device to meet the designed specification relies on the ability of the manufacturing process to fabricate the devices.
For example, a given process is used to manufacture a batch of semiconductor devices. The devices are then tested and graded as per their ability to meet certain criteria. Those that meet the most stringent criteria will command the highest value. The value of the devices will then decrease with a corresponding decrease in their performance. This variable performance is an attribute of most semiconductor processing where predictability of the process is not always as high as is desired.
There is therefore a need for a semiconductor device structure that overcomes the unpredictable nature of fabrication processes and provides for more predictable device properties.